Six Ways to Save Hundreds When You Buy New Tires - Never Pay Full Price

Buying tires is one of the most expensive parts of vehicle maintenance, and with EVs, it’s even more expensive than with conventional vehicles, since they tend to wear faster. If you are shopping for tires this fall, be sure that you don't pay full price for them. Nearly every tire retailer offers substantial discounts on tires today, and they literally expect that you will choose one of the ways to save. Don’t be the sucker that antes up full price for new tires.

Tires today cost between $175 and $ $250 each for popular models like the top-selling Toyota RAV4. Many tire retail chains offer junk tires that are made by non-name brands. The tire retailers often tell you that these tires “Are made for us by a top brand tire manufacturer.” Don’t fall for this nonsense. Buy a quality tire that is highly rated. If you need an instant indicator of the quality of a given model, simply use your browser to look at the rating at TireRack.com (This story has no sponsors, by the way).

Using our methods, you should be able to easily save up to 30% on tires. It is important to realize that in every tire category, there are always three or more top brands making a very good tire. It doesn’t matter if you want general-purpose all-season touring tires, all-terrain tires, or all-weather tires. Every top brand makes a great tire in that category. Don’t fall in love with just one specific model. Testing has proven that the differences between the top models in any category are small and almost undetectable by most drivers.

Save On Tires - Buy Three Get One Free
The most classic tire sale model in recorded history is the “Buy three and get one free” retail sale offer. We literally drove by a sign at our favorite local tire retailer and saw that they had Cooper tires on sale this way the day this story was written. Cooper tires performed very well in Torque News testing, and saving 25% sounds like a smart way to buy great tires at a low, low price. Shop around for this tire sale model. The dealer for your brand of vehicle is almost certainly running this type of sale multiple times each year. Top -tip - You can buy tires at any car dealership - not just the one that makes your car. Watch for these great deals. This deal is the simplest way to save about $200 on a set of tires.

As good as “Buy three get one free” is, we have seen “buy one get one free” deals on some tires from some tire shops. These tend not to be the very top-selling models of tire, but the deal might word for you. If you ever see this deal, phone the shop to see if they have a tire that fits your vehicle that has good online reviews. It’s the best tire deal ever.

Save On Tires - Manufacturer Rebates
If “buy three get one free” is the most common way to save hundreds on your next tire purchase, manufacturer rebates are the second. We turned to SimpleTire.com for a quick way to find rebates on tires. We found rebates on Falken, Goodyear, Cooper, Pirelli, Laufen, Hankook, Nexen, and Nitto. The best deal of the day was for Pirelli tires, which offered a $200 rebate. If you don’t want to wait for the money to come back to you after paying up front, check out the “instant savings deals” like Falken’s, which offered $100 back with a simple promo code. These rebates are usually in effect at all retailers at once, but some are specific to the retailer. Shop around for your best price on the specific model tire you wish to buy, and then apply your rebate.

Save On Tires - Dealer Discount Coupons
Does your local vehicle dealer send you coupons in the mail, or perhaps by email? If so, watch closely for the ones that cover tires and parts. These discounts can equate to hundreds of dollars in savings. If you already prefer to have your local dealer service your car, waiting until you have a tire or parts discount will save you big money. If the dealer isn’t running those incentives this month, call the service department, ask for the manager, and ask if the upcoming month will have a discount. Perhaps they will move it forward for you to get your business.

Save On Tires - Discontinued (Great) Tire Models
Every tire manufacturer evolves their product line constantly. For example, the popular Michelin CrossClimate2 tire and Defender2 tire are both updated versions of the CrossClimate and Defender tires. When the manufacturers launch the new tire, there are great discounts on the outgoing tire models. A good example of this is Falken's wildly successful WildPeak A/T3W tire. Falken is presently moving the model to its “A/T4W” version, and there are great deals to be found on in-stock “A/T3W” tires. Don’t be afraid to grab four of the outgoing tires. However, don’t be tempted to mix and match the new and old. Buy four matching tires.

Save On Tires - Free Installation
A big part of the cost of a set of new tires is the installation charge. Typically, the price to mount, balance, and dispose of an old tire is around $50. For a set of four tires, that equates to $200. If you ever spot a “Free installation” offer, jump at it. It is as valuable as a $200 rebate or a $200 tire discount. Costco includes installation in the cost of its tires, so if you find a good deal on tires at Costco, it is amplified by the installation being included. When we checked out Costco’s tire offers while writing this story, we found brand-specific discounts on Bridgestone, Pirelli, and Firestone tires. All of the discounts also include the installation costs.

BJ’s also has great free installation offers. When we looked today, Michelin, Goodyear, Cooper, and Firestone were among the tire brands that had free installation and also discounts doubled up. You need to be a member of Costco or BJ’s to enjoy these discounts, but it is well worth it.

Save On Tires - Black Friday Sales On Amazon and Other Sites 
Black Friday deals now run all through November and December, not just the day after Thanksgiving. Watch your favorite retailers like Amazon for crazy tire deals during the period around Black Friday. Using our browser, we found Black Friday tire deals in effect now from Tire Rack, Simple Tire, Town Fair Tire, BJ’s, and many other retailers.

Never Pay Full Price For A Set of New Tires
If we can leave our readers with any one message, it would be “Don’t pay full price for a set of new tires.” There are endless types of discounts and rebates available to you for top-quality, brand-name tires from reputable retailers. Many of the discounts may be from your preferred installer. In the case of Simple Tire and Tire Rack, the discounts would work, regardless of who installs your tires. Both will ship directly to you or to the place that installs your tires. One last tip - Let’s call this “number seven.” Many tire retailers have a price match guarantee. If you find a great deal on tires online, take a screenshot and save the URL. You can ask your favorite retailer if they can match the price.

What’s the best tire deal you have ever found? Tell us in the comments below. 
 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools. 

Top of page image and Vredestein sale image by John Goreham. Image of Acton Ford discounts courtesy of Acton Ford.  Image of BJ's discounts courtesy of BJ's.